


In Another Life

by dorkpatroller



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Hoshido | Birthright Route, M/M, This isn't happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 19:26:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9199283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkpatroller/pseuds/dorkpatroller
Summary: How could Corrin do this? How could they just walk away from him, leave him to grow cold and empty laid up against the wall?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lieano](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieano/gifts).



> please direct all your discontent to @lieano on tumblr this is 300% her fault

And he crumples. His knees give out under him and Laslow kneels in front of his lord’s body with red-rimmed eyes. How could Corrin do this? How could they just walk away from him, leave him to grow cold and empty laid up against the wall? 

Laslow will never forgive them, damn his mission and damn Corrin.

“Xander,” he chokes out. He reaches out for him with his bare hands because his own gloves are soaked through with Hoshidan blood, but it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to save the man he cherishes the most. His thumbs brush over the apples of Xander’s cheeks and his skin is cooler than it should be. His lips are still pink but they’re turning cold. Laslow leans close and kisses his mouth, but Xander does not chuckle or kiss him back or call him a distraction.

Laslow is kneeling in a pool of Xander’s blood but he’s not bleeding anymore, he’s since stopped when it began to run cold. He whimpers out a noise that he tries to hold in, and he pulls Xander forward and against him. His beautiful Lord’s head rests against his chest and Laslow nuzzles his nose down into his gorgeous curls and kisses the top of his head. “Please come back.” He says, and then he sobs.

He just sobs.

Why would he ask them to stay behind? If Laslow had been at his lord’s side perhaps he could have saved him, he could have… Well he glances over his shoulder at Lady Elise, also abandoned, just a corpse in the wake of Corrin’s wrath… If Laslow had been there to stand beside his lord, could he have convinced him that it wasn’t his fault? Could he have promised him that Elise’s sacrifice would be in vain if he stood against Corrin?

 “I love you so much,” He says through tears and snot and regrets. Xander smells like blood, like sweat, but underneath he smells like the cologne Laslow watched him put on that morning, from their bed. He smells like a memory of gentle kisses on Laslow’s eyelashes telling him that the war will end, today, and soon after they will announce their engagement. “I don’t want to be alone again.”

But he doesn’t wake up. He doesn’t come back. Laslow holds him tight and cries until he has nothing left to give and then he is afraid to lay him down. He’s afraid to let him go, because once he does it is over. Everything is over.

Odin and Selena. They arrive perhaps an hour later, out of breath and worried that he is dead, no doubt. “Laslow!” They both call in unison, and Laslow… he knows this is it. He lays Xander down in a way that is comfortable. He doesn’t leave him against a wall with his head hanging low. He lays him down the way he sleeps, on his back and with his head turned to the side, and he leans down and presses a small kiss to Xander’s forehead. Before he stands up he removes Xander’s gauntlet, and he peels back his glove. Laslow slips Xander’s engagement ring off of his finger, and he slides it onto his thumb. It’s a little too big… but he will add it to the chain with his mother’s ring around his neck when he has a spare moment.

 Until then he stands and he turns to his friends. Odin breathes out what might be relief that he’s alive, but he’s obviously upset. As he should be. “Laslow?”

 “I’m going home.” Laslow says. His voice is gravely from his tears but he has conviction.

 “But what about our mission?” Selena asks. “This war is almost over, if they can just defeat King Garon..!”

 “Prince Xander is dead!” Laslow shouts. His hands twist into fists so tight his hands shake. “Lady Elise is dead. Peri is dead. If Corrin can kill them so easily, they _hardly_ need my help to defeat what’s left of this army.”

 “But--!”

 “I’ll sooner die.” Laslow says. “I’ll sooner die than stand beside Liege Corrin! They should have never left Nohr behind. They _chose_ this path. X-Xander is dead and it’s… It’s Corrin’s fault. I won’t. I won’t! I’m leaving.”

 He only wavers a moment. Only when Odin puts his hand on his shoulder and nods at him. Only when Selena breaks all of her standards to wrap him up in a hug from behind. Laslow’s face scrunches up all over again, and he drops his forehead against Odin’s shoulder. Eventually he reaches up and clings to the fabric of his cape. “H-He’s dead.” He says again.

 “Let’s go home.” Odin whispers. Laslow’s fingers pull tighter at his cape, and he nods his head.

 

…

 

When Inigo stands in the summer breeze it never reminds him of Nohr. Nothing about Ylisse reminds him of Nohr, and he does not regret leaving it behind. He does not _care_ if Corrin won the war or if they died. He does not care if Camilla stepped into the role of queen. He does not care at all.

Inigo has spent his whole life faking smiles to make others feel stronger, and to fool himself into believing he is strong, too. But he is not strong… and he no longer cares who feels strong. He barely cares about himself, but he clings to the words that his beautiful liege once said to him. 

_It is not  your company I require, only that you continue to draw breath._

And so Inigo smiles for no one but himself. He lives for no one but himself, and for Xander, and he dreams sweet dreams of a day when they will meet again, in another life.


End file.
